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Learning and sharing

New as I am to the NIC community, I have had a little time to reflect on the commonalities on consent application across the globe. Across the pond in the UK we often pursued a path which we felt was unique and uncharted. It is clear to me, however, that the reality of consent transcends many international boundaries. The requirement for a granular unified approach, with the individual at the centre to improve outcomes for those who need it most is key to the principles of best practice and safe

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A lot of news is breaking for the National Information Exchange Model (NIEM) program that affects all of the agencies and organizations that have chosen to build information exchanges that conform to the NIEM. The news includes a major shift to make NIEM part of the OASIS standards development organization with an intent to make NIEM an international standard for defining information exchanges between domains and disciplines. Also, new additional domains including the first true international do

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By Daniel Stein 

As I started writing this blog, I thought a lot about how to deliver the following message without sounding hyperbolic or boastful: The report that Stewards of Change Institute (SOCI) has just published, titled “Modernizing Consent to Advance Health and Equity,” is potentially a very big deal. Then I read a quote from Karen DeSalvo, Google’s Chief Health Officer, and thought I couldn’t explain it any better. So here’s what she said in September 2021, at the 35th Annual Plenary o

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By Daniel Stein

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), as most readers of this blog probably know, is a significant driver of progress for our nation’s health system. So Stewards of Change Institute (SOCI) is delighted and honored that ONC has invited us to participate in its online 2021 Tech Forum, which is a showcase for ideas, insights and innovations for advancing health technology to improve patient care, health equity, data exchange and interoperabi

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By Daniel Stein

Here’s something we can all agree on: Sharing data across systems, sectors and domains is a highly desirable goal because it can result in enormous benefits, ranging from reducing costs to enhancing programmatic efficiencies to – most importantly – improving person-centered care and outcomes. What we also know, however, is that there are tall hurdles to achieving that goal, and two of the highest are 1) the need to readily secure consent from the people whose information is to be

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A New Training Program For The Next Normal

By Daniel Stein

This quote from the latest newsletter from the California chapter of the National Association of Social Workers caught my eye: “Public and private programs, agencies and organizations nationwide are preparing to build, rebuild, and grow in 2021 and beyond. And – as the pandemic has demonstrated every day – the need will be greater than ever to address socioeconomic problems, racial disparities, and health inequities with improved Interoperability and information-sharing.”

I could

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By Daniel Stein and David A. Ross

The $1.9 trillion Covid relief bill that’s headed for President Biden’s desk this week makes it very clear – wonderfully – that children will be a primary concern during his Administration. In particular, the legislations provisions will make a meaningful difference in the lives of kids in low- and middle-income families, mitigating poverty’s corrosive impact on millions of the youngest, most-vulnerable people in our country.

It’s a major step forward, to be sur

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The Best Way to Improve the Future is to Shape It

By Daniel Stein, President, SOC Institute I’m happy to report that 2021 has gotten off to a good start for Stewards of Change Institute (SOCI), with the successful completion of three initiatives: 8490838101?profile=original

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By David A. Ross and Daniel Stein

It’s heartening to see that, among the many executive orders President Biden has signed during his first days in office, there’s one that makes clear that children are among his primary concerns. Indeed, his plan to significantly expand benefits for children in low- and middle-income families will make a meaningful difference if enacted, mitigating poverty’s corrosive impact on millions of the youngest, most-vulnerable people in our country.

We believe that’s on

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By Miriam Castro

Our Mentor Program supports seven experienced organizations (listed below) by offering targeted technical assistance or subject area expertise to small groups of “mentees.” Each selected team will be matched with an experienced mentor and will be eligible to receive up to $10,000 for participation; most awards are of $5,000 for groups of at least two organizations. The application period is open until January 22, 2021. Full program details and application instructions can be fou

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By Mary Kratz

The healthcare industry is undergoing a major transformation, not only vertically within the industry itself, but also horizontally in its intersections with other disciplines. And this change is happening – every day – as the COVID-19 pandemic highlights the pervasive impact of public health on schools, social services, and many other aspects of society. As public health takes center stage, interoperability plays a critical role. The National Action Agenda to Advance Upstream Soc

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 By Eric Jahn

Within many countries and across national borders, the internet is full of varying definitions or understandings for similar or even the same human services concepts. For example, the word "program" means different things in different circumstances and different sectors. The same is true for many common terms, even simple ones that we may intuitively believe have the same meaning to almost anyone. (Think "enrollments," "households," "exit," "homelessness" and many, many more.)

T

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By Daniel Stein, President, Stewards of Change Institute

COVID-19 is unleashing numerous, profound consequences that we hear about on the news and feel in our own lives every day. One effect of the crisis that has received little attention to date, however, is its impact on the civil courts, where critically important personal matters such as child custody and eviction (among many others) are still playing out during the pandemic and will continue to do so into the future.

The need for the court

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By Daniel Stein, President, Stewards of Change Institute

Like so many others in the nonprofit world, those of us at Stewards of Change Institute (SOCI) do our work every day primarily because we deeply believe in our mission and are committed to improving people’s lives by advancing systems-level change.

I have to admit, however, that it’s also nice when our efforts get a little outside attention now and then. So I’d like to extend a metaphorical tip of my hat (I don’t really wear one) to GovRep

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We invite you – individually or through your organization – to join us in pursuing this mission by personally participating in, contributing financially to, or in other ways supporting SOCI’s new National Action Agenda to Advance Upstream Social Determinants and Health Equity.
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It took Stewards of Change more than 15 years to accumulate the knowledge, resources, experience and connections that we’re now bringing together in both ITCC and the Action Agenda. It took just a few months of a global pandemic to underscore just how important this work truly is – and can be. We now have the opportunity to do much more than just wait and see what the “new normal” in our country is going to look like; we believe we’ve got the wherewithal to help shape it. Please join us for the
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On behalf of all of us at Stewards of Change Institute (SOCI), which is NIC’s nonprofit parent organization, I extend my deep thanks to all of my colleagues, old and new friends, and other supporters who have helped us organize these “deep dive” webinars. We’re particularly grateful to the scores of presenters who have made the time to lead conversations, answer questions, and stimulate activities during and after each one.
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June 5th, 2020 NIC webinar was a bulls-eye for professionals whose bailiwick includes such technical aspects of interoperability and information-sharing as ontology, person-matching and privacy/security (among others). And, we’re happy to say yet again, that means we’re making substantive progress on our proof-of-concept initiative, Project Unify. If you’re a geek like us and want to catch up on the fun, check out the recording of the session. 
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Rita Torkzadeh and Pradeep S.B. Podila, provided an update on the work of Unify’s Person-Matching Workgroup; that includes identification of clients/patients who may be matches; improving statistical confidence in matches; identity data linkage of high-confidence matches; and resolution of matching identity data inconsistencies.
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